This invention relates to the field of bags and, in particular, to bags containing substantial amounts of dense material.
In recent years, the call for lighter weight packages for dense materials such as cement, sand, building materials, etc., has emanated from various sources. Customers, labor unions, and government regulations are all demanding that packages of heavy material be easier and safer to lift.
In the refractory and cement industries, for example, filled bags of cement weighing 100 lbs. are recognized as potential health hazards. Lifting these bags has been identified as a possible source of back injuries reported by workers in those industries. It appears that conventional bags will soon have to be replaced with smaller, lighter-weight units.
The successful conversion to smaller bags may be hindered by many problems, which, unfortunately, may prolong the potential health hazards. For example, if the bags currently used are replaced with smaller bags having half the current capacity, then the number of bags required for each ton of material will double. This increased handling will boost costs to manufacturers and consumers, with consumers having to absorb both their own increased cost and the increased manufacturing costs that will be passed on to them from the manufacturers.
In addition, manufacturing plants which now use the larger bags will need to replace or modify their packaging equipment to accommodate the smaller bags. These plants will probably also need to buy more packaging machines just to maintain current production levels.
At the same time, the bag manufacturers will have to double the number of bags they produce just to keep up with current demands. They may find doubling production to be difficult or even impossible.